1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to organotin sulfonate catalysts, polymers produced with organotin catalysts, and manufacture of organotin catalysts.
2. Description of Related Art
Catalysts are commonly used in the polymerization and cross linking reactions of monomeric or resinous materials to form polymers. The catalysts, polymerizable components, and other additives may be in the form of coatings, particles, articles, solutions, or dispersions. The compositions may be manipulated and polymerized as "neat" compositions, i.e. in the absence of solvents or carriers, as organic solutions or as water dispersed or emulsified compositions. Each composition has it's own strengths and weaknesses.
The chemistry of the polymerizable components is the primary factor in selecting a specific catalyst to use. However, it is difficult to predict the suitability of a catalyst without experimental verification. Often a catalyst that is effective for catalyzing one type of reaction, i.e. polyurethane polymer formation, is not be well suited for catalyzing a different type of reaction, i.e. butylated melamine polymerization. Accordingly, when polyurethane forming reactants and polyamine (e.g. melamine) forming reactants are combined into a single formulation, two different catalysts are added, one for the polyurethane forming reaction and another for the melamine forming reaction so that the two different reactions can proceed simultaneously at reasonably comparable reaction rates.
Some, polystannoxanes are known and have been shown to have catalytic activity for certain reactions; see for example:
"Distannoxane as reverse micelle type catalyst; novel solvent effect on reaction rate of transesterification" Junzo Otera, Shingi Ioka; and Hitosi Nozaki, Journal of Organic Chemistry, 1989, 54, 4013-4014.
"Novel template effect of distannoxane catalysts in highly efficient transesterification and esterification", Juno Otera, Nobuhisa Dan-oh and Hitosi Noaki, Journal of Organic Chemistry, 1991, 56, 5307-5311.
While polystannoxanes have been disclosed, their sulfonate derivatives do not appear in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,720,507 discloses a wide variety of classes of organotin compounds which are said to be useful as catalysts in the preparation of polyesters. However polystannoxanes sulfonates are not disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,271, discloses the use of tristannoxanes as catalysts in the preparation of urethane foams. No organotin sulfonates are disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,402. This patent discloses the use of octaalkylstannoxanes as catalysts in urethane systems comprising blocked isocyanates. No organotin sulfonates are disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,194,770, discloses the use of a wide variety of classes of organotin compounds useful as catalysts in curing compositions, particularly foams. Stannoxanes are disclosed but polystannoxanes sulfonates are not disclosed.
Mononuclear (monomeric) organotin sulfonates have been disclosed as a composition of matter and their use as polyurethane foam catalysts has also been disclosed. For example:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,095,434 discloses a wide range of di and tri organotin sulfonates and describes their use as pesticides. Catalyst utility for polyurethane foams is also disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,073 claims di and trialkytin sulfonates as urethane foam catalysts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,049 discloses a process for producing aromatic polyesters. The catalyst may be an organotin compound used with a sulfonic acid promoter but the catalyst and promoter do not constitute an organotin sulfonate. The ability for mononuclear organotin sulfonates to effectively catalyze several different polymerization reactions simultaneously has not been disclosed.